Consin



(No Model.)

2 SheetsShet 1 A. HIRSHHEIMERZK; '0. M. MUELLER.

MACHINE FOR GROZING, GEAMFERING, HOWELING, AND TRIM'MING STAVES.

No.-389,5'71. i PatentedVSept. 18, 1888.

v l ,n

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. I A. HIRSHHEIMER & O. M. MUELLER. MACHINE FOB. GROZING, OHAMFERING, HOWELING, AND TRIMMING STAVBS.

No. 389,571. Patented Sept. 18, 1888.

A M W- mlw WMKEWM 181il'me oo c a UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT HIRSHHEIMER AND CHARLES M. MUELLER, OF LA GROSSE, VIS- GONSIN.

MACHINE FOR CRO ZING, CHAMFERING, HOWELING, AND TRIMMING STAVES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 389,571, dated September 18, 1888.

Application filed December 1, 1887. Serial No. 256.625; (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALBERT HIRSHHEIMER and CHARLES M. MUELLER, citizens of the United States, residing at La Crosse, in the county of La Orosse and State of Wisconsin, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Grozing, Ohamfering, Howeling, and Trimming Staves; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to mechanism for shaping the ends of staves for barrels, kegs, and the like, in what is known to the trade as tight work.

It consists, principally, in a double set of rotary cutters for trimming, chamfering, crozing, and shaping the inside of the end of the stave, commonly known as howeling, in combination with a rotary feed-drum, which receives the staves one by one from the feedrack and conveys them singly to the cutters, and curved feed-guides extending around and outside of the ends of the feed-drum, and conforming in shape therewith, except at the point where the staves are discharged from the machine.

It also consists in the peculiar form and construction of the feed-drum, feed'guides, and

cutter-head.

The principal object of this invention is to provide means for finishing the end of the stave while it is rigidly held with its inner surface upon a form in the exact shape and position which it will occupy in the finished barrel, whereby it may be fitted exactly without further labor for its place in the barrel, and any slight variation in the thickness of different staves will not. alter the capacity of the finished barrel.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine, showing the general relative positions of the several parts. Fig. 2 is a cross'sectiou on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showing the inside of one of the feed-guides and the position of the cutterhead. Fig. 3 is a central cross-section of the feed-drum. Fig. 4 is a detail view ofa portion of the feed-drum, feed-guide, and cutterhead, showing the manner in which the stave is held in position for cutting; and Fig. 5 is a detail View of the cutter-head.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in all of the figures.

A represents the frame upon which the operative parts of the machine are mounted; B, the feed-drum mounted upon a shaft, to, extending lengthwise of the frame and mounted in adjustable bearings upon carriages b b,movable in or upon ways fixed to the sides of the frame.

0 O are curved guide-bars, one at each end of the feed-drum, by means of which the staves are clamped to the drum.

The feed-drum B is barrelshaped and of the exact size and form of the interior dimensions of the barrel or keg for which the staves are to be fitted; and for this purpose a separate drum is required for each different class of work. The drum is mounted upon a shaft, a, which is driven by suitable gear-connection with the main driving-shaft, so as to revolve at a comparatively low rate of speed. Upon the outer surface of the drum are formed or secured longitudinal follower ribs or flanges c c, at a sufficient distance apart to admit a stave between them, and of alittle less height than the thickness of the stave. These ribs or flanges are substantially rectangular in form in cross-section, and extend in each direction beyond the end of the drum in order to afford a support for the stave throughout its whole length. The projecting ends of the ribs are cut away upon the inner edge, as shown at d, in order to allow room for the cutters to operate upon the stave Without coming in contact with the ribs.

At each end of the drum, and mounted upon opposite sides of the frame A, are the feedguides O C. These are preferably formed by casting, and are sufficiently heavy to stand the strain of forcing the ends of the stave closely against the feed-drum, even though the stave may have sprung somewhat on its release from the bending form. The fcedgnides are made of substantially the form shown in Fig. 2, each guide consisting of an arm, 0, having a curva' ture of about three-fourths of a circumference, and are so located upon the frame-work that the shaft a is in the center of curvature. At the front of the frame the arms curve outwardly, as shown at e, and form a dischargeoutlet, by means of which the staves are allowed to pass from the machine, whence they may be removed by any suitable carrier mechanism. The guides are rigidly secured to the frame by means of bolts or other fastening device passing through the outward extension, 0, and a rearwardlyextending arm, f, forming a part of the same casting. The curve formed by the inner surface, {1, of the feed-guides is of the same radius as the outside of the ends of the staves of a finished barrel of the size in the shaping of which this size of guide is adapted to be used, and the guides are made of different sizes, as in the case of the drum, to correspond with the different classes of work. The surface 9 in cross-section is inclined from a perpendicular to the plane in which the guide is situated to correspond with the taper of the barrel. At the outer edge of the curved surface 9 is a rim or flange, It, corresponding in form therewith, to afford protection against the endwise displacement of the staves when its ends are resting upon or against the surface g of each guide. The guides and the drum are so situated with reference to each other that the drum rotates within the regularly-curved portion of the guides, the ends of the ribs or flanges c 0 just clearing the inner surface, 9, and the flange h. The feed-guides terminate over the center of the drum, and the inner surface, 1, at this point is inclined so as to exert a wedge action upon the end of the stave when introduced between the guides and the drum by the rotary movement of the drum, thereby forcing the stave to conform to the shape of the drum. Upon this end of the guides is mounted the feed-rack I), through which the staves are fed to the drum.

At each end of the feed-drum B, and so mounted as to rotate just inside the path of the projecting ribs or flanges c c, are the cutterheads E E, one at each end of the drum. The shafts k 7r, carrying the cutter-heads, are adjustabl y mounted upon the carriages b b, which move in ways upon the frame. By means of the adjustable carriages the cutter-heads are movable to a greater or less distance apart to correspond with the different lengths ofstaves, and by means of the adjustability of the shafts upon the carriages the enttenhcads are movable in a lateral direction in order to bring them into proper position relative to the different sizes of drums and feed-guides used in finishing staves for barrels of greater or less A diameter.

The shaft a, carrying the drum B, is mounted in laterally-adjustable bearings upon the carriages b b, by means of which a greater nicety of adjustment may be secured, and the bearings are longitudinally adjustable upon the shaft to, to provide for the necessary movement of the carriage in regulating the position of the cutter-heads.

The operation of the machine is as follows: A quantity of staves, which have previously been dressed, bent, and jointed, are placed in the feed-rack, inside down, from which they are taken one at a time by the ribs or flanges c c of the feed-drum rotating beneath them and carried along between the drum and the guides. The staves are held from displacement by means of the ribs 0 c and the flange h of the feed-guides, and are compressed so as to conform to the exact shape of the drum by means of the surface 1 of the fccd-guides acting upon each end of the stave. The stave is thus rigidly held in the exact form it will have in the finished barrel, and while thus held its ends are carried under the cutter-heads, which completely finish the ends of the stave. After passing the cutters the stave is released from between the drum and guides by reason of the outward curvature of the guides, and resting upon the ends of the guides is carried along by the forward movement of the next succeeding stave and discharged from the machine.

The cutter-head which we use with this machine comprises four distinct sets of cuttersnamely, the two sets of knives Z Z and m m, for howeling and chamfering the stave, respectively, and two sets of saw-toothed cutters, a n and o 0, respectively, for cutting the croze and trimming the end of the stave to a proper length. The chief feature of the invention, as relating to the cutters, consists in the form and setting of the cutters Z l and a H.

The howeling-knivesl Z are slightly bent, gouge-shaped, which, as the middle of the cutting-edge comes in contact with the wood first, gives a drawing out, thus preventing slivering and giving a better finish to the stave. The

outer edge of the cutter Z projects forward and upward from the gouge-shaped part, as shown at p, which cutting-edge p corners the end of the stave at the inside edge of the chamfer, thus affording a complete and smooth finish.

The croze-cutters u n consist of two blades projecting from opposite sides of the cutterhead, with teeth cut in the projecting ends, and are mounted in a rectangular groove, (1, formed in the end of the cutter-head. The bottom of the groove is inclined slightly from one side of the head to the other, the amount of inclination in perpendicular height being equal to the thickness of one of the cutters, by which arrangement one of the cutters cuts one side of the crozc and the other cutter the other side, the width of the croze being equal to the combined thickness of the two cutters. By this device we obviate the splintcring which takes place when both sides of the croze are cut at the same instant, there being with this construction the time required to make onehalf a revolution of the cutter-head between the IIO stroke that cuts the fibers of the wood on one side of the croze and that which cuts the other side.

We claim as our invention- 1. In a machine for finishing the ends of barrcl-staves, a rotary feed-drum, B, of the form of the interior of a finished barrel of the size for which the staves are to be used, longitudinally-extending follower ribs or flanges c 0, formed thereon, of less height than the thickness of a stave and extending beyond the ends of the drum, and means for clamping the stave rigidly upon the drum while being presented to the cutters, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. In a machine for finishing the ends of barrel-staves, the rotary feed-drum B, of the form of the interior of a finished barrel of the size for which the staves are to be used, longitudinally-extending follower ribs or flanges c 0, formed thereon and extending beyond the ends of the drum, and feed-guides O O, rigidly secured to the frame-work and extending partially around and outside of the circumference of the ends of the feed-drum, at a radial dis-' tance therefrom equal to the ordinary thickness of a stave, substantially as described, whereby the stave is clamped to the feed-drum while being presented to the cutters.

3. The rotary feed-drum B and the feedguides O O, mounted upon the frame-work and extending partially around each end of the feed-drum at a radial distance therefrom equal to the thickness of the stave to be finished thereon, the inner surface of the guides at the point Where the stave enters between it and the drum being inclined, substantially as described, whereby the forward motion of the rotary drum causes a wedging action to be exerted by the guides upon the outer surface of the stave.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT HIRSHHEIMER. CHARLES M. MUELLER. Witnesses:

SARA L. Fox, HARRY MARSH. 

